BLOG PARTY: things I love Thursday

Welcome to the very first {things i love} Thursday post on the new SHADYLANE BLOG.  For the last few years I've had this feature on my blog and a good link-up post is always fun.  Click the button under my Special Features on my sidebar for previous TILT posts.  Its where I share the fun and unique things I stumble across on the internet.  

I wanted to restart this feature with a post full of links to the blogs and resources I utilized during my redesign process.  I've found that if you want to learn something there are always places to look. 

>>>> Sarah over at SillyGrrl is a circus performer with a bunch of great blogging and design tutorials.  Check out her Nerd Q & A posts HERE. 

>>>> One of my favorite tricks for customizing blogs comes from Kevin and Amanda.  This post from 2009 shows how to use custom fonts for blog post titles and your sidebar.  I created a font from my handwriting and love how it looks for my titles.  See the how to HERE. 

>>>> The Primp My Blog section over at Her New Leaf was full of great tips and tricks.  

>>>> My social media icons at the top of my blog are from this post over at The Academy.  They created a set for each of the Pantone Colors of the Year since 2009.  I loved the Honeysuckle color for 2011.  I found these icons (and created a couple extra ones that I needed, like Instagram) and had the perfect color to finalize my design.  Download your own HERE. 

>>>> Something simple that adds a big impact on your blog post is to remove the shadow around your images.  Check out this bit of coding that will enable you to do that HERE. 

>>>> Ashley from After Nine to Five did a great post about staying inspired with blogging.  At her suggestion I got really inspired to write down all of my ideas and see where they take me.  Doing that gave me some great ideas and posts I'll be doing on the blog now.  See her 5 tips HERE. 

>>>> And for the inspiration sake I created a Design pinboard over at Pinterest.  These are the things that helped me work through visually what I wanted my blog to look like.  I just love Pinterest. :) 

Do you have any blogs or resources you always turn to 

for your design needs or ideas? 

What is inspiring your blogging and design? 

Please share links in the comments.

I like to go exploring on Thursdays. :)